[elwappo99]

  Yeah, I wanna see Marv's.

 
Sounds dirty

 

[62ohm]

  Design, fit and quality: (Not so relevant for the sound I know, however...)
-The LCD2 is build like a tank, but is heavy and pushed annoyingly on my ears making is super uncomfortable for me.
-The AKG feels very well build and looks stunning to my mechanical-ingineers eyes. The surface treatments everywhere are just very well made. Much better fit than the LCD2, especially the earcups are very nice and comfy. Although the cable is thin, this one-sided type more comfortable to use than the dual one on the HD800 that makes me feel like I'm wearing a bib (Ok, not quite that bad..).
-The HD800 looks like it came from a 80s sc-fi movie and the earcups are visually super large compared with the rest. I don't like the design too much as you can probably hear. Seems well build though, but confusing to my eyes and there are these weird soft feeling silver sides that my finges tough when taking them on an off... Makes me go "Hmmmm".... They are just as comfy as the K812 on my head but when moving my head the headband had a tendency to glide back and forth giving an insecure feeeling. Feels just as light on the head as the K812 and I would be happy wearing it for hours.
-> overall winner to me was the K812. The HD800 just a bit behind.
 
Sound (the tough one)
-LCD2: Amazing deep bass. Never heard anything like this. Very hard to say anything bad about that bass -wow!. However... In my head the sound was significantly softer and less controlled in the mids and especially in the high-end than the other two. I can understand that some might find this HP amazing, but to me it was an absolute no-go. It confirmed to me the importance of hearing for yourself rather than reading reviews To me it was a 550HP Ford Mustang in headphones..
-K812: Very exciting sound that got my feet rocking in 2seconds. Good deep bass. Even better mids and well extended hights. Somehow artificially sounding to me, albeit it's hard to explain, but going back and forth between the three somthing was amiss in my book and I was thinking about the headphone rather than the music. Still... The above is somewhat exaggerated to make it clear, in reality it was quite close sounding to the HD800, much much more so that the LCD2.
-HD800: Wow! This is music to me, I have the feeling that this is how the music sounds and I forget the gear. The bass was in my ears a little bit less extended than the K812. I think this HP would take some getting used to though since I almost get "overload" of information to my brain - in a good way Something bad beyond a bass that does not reach LCD2 levels? Maybe a bit analytical, but just a bit; but I kind of like it that way.
-> overall winner to me was HD800, with the K812 strong in pursuit. Before going into the shop I had read a lot online and was almost sure that I would prefer the K812 and have the LCD2 and HD800 following a little bit behind. After the review my personal (!) ranking was different...
 

 
I concur. The AKG is 'more fun' than the HD800, to me it retains a house sound that is absent from the HD800 but at the expense of transparency. The HD800 is more transparent that it's easy to forget the gear. I agree though that the HD800 looks utterly weird, the K812 looks like a premium set of headphone.

 

[jespersen]

Good to hear some agreement. I felt somewhat intimidated to write this mini-review.
If the all three headphones sounded the same, and cost was also the same I would take the K812 in a heartbeat - it makes me want to caress the headband.. oups, did I write that?   However, it costs not just a little bit more than the HD800 and in my ears it sounds worse...

 

[Beagle]

I can not imagine that the AKG engineers didn't know about the distortion, but decided to leave the headphone as it is. Why? They simply liked the sound. Well distortion might sound nice to some, see all those prefering tube sound.

 
This is what I mean about flagship headphones and compromises. If they "fixed" the treble blemish (damping etc), they'd likely ruin what's great about the K812. In the meantime, you have $300-$500 cans that probably have smoother top end but can't do what the K812 does well. You can't win.

 

[Claritas]

 
This is what I mean about flagship headphones and compromises. If they "fixed" the treble blemish (damping etc), they'd likely ruin what's great about the K812. In the meantime, you have $300-$500 cans that probably have smoother top end but can't do what the K812 does well. You can't win.

 
Glass is half full version: I have several good and very good models that play different sorts of music to quite different effect and I'm satisfied with most of them.

 

[62ohm]

   
Glass is half full version: I have several good and very good models that play different sorts of music to quite different effect and I'm satisfied with most of them.

 
+1. Irrespective of the measurements and technical POVs, the K812 sounds more 'fun' than the HD800 IMO. They both provide different way of enjoying the music.

 

[pietcux]

I just had to get out my K702 and to give them a run for their 300 bucks.....

 

[up late]

@ jespersen - felt the same way about both cans sound wise. sorta been steering away from the hd800 coz of it's reputation for being picky with sources and whatnot but liked what i heard.

 

[x838nwy]

Could it be that Impulse responses are different between tyll's and akg's set up due to the seal between head and driver and hence effective damping of the diaphragm during this test?

I'm no expert on headphone measurements, but are these measurements from an actual application of an "impulse" input or calculated from other measurements? Could it be they use different approximations of an ideal impulse?

I'm not some desperate fanboy, i'm just a little vexed.

P.s. I used "impulse" as i assume it's not possible to throw a real impulse at it (of the zero duration, unity time/amplitude integral variety).

 

[Beagle]

   
Glass is half full version: I have several good and very good models that play different sorts of music to quite different effect and I'm satisfied with most of them.

 
Most of use do. But would we have done the same with loudspeakers? I can't imagine setting up different speakers/amps every time I changed genres of music...

 

[Beagle]

  Did Tyll get another pair of K812s or did he do the review with his original?

 
 
He got a second pair and they measured/sounded about the same...see his comments below his review.
 

I'll give that a try when I get my replacement pair and see if there is any problem with the "eee's".

 
Did I miss something? What happened? You were loving them

 

[roguegeek]

I just had to get out my K702 and to give them a run for their 300 bucks.....

It's an interesting point. Is simply having a fun sound worth $1500 when you can get that for far less or should you expect more when entering that territory? It's, obviously, a very personal question, but it did sound to me like that was a question being passively asked in the InnerFidelity review.

 

[62ohm]

  It's an interesting point. Is simply having a fun sound worth $1500 when you can get that for far less or should you expect more when entering that territory? It's, obviously, a very personal question, but it did sound to me like that was a question being passively asked in the InnerFidelity review.

 
He actually said that he can't recommend the K812 for audio engineers and recommend the HD800 instead when an audio microscope is needed.

 

[Kiats]

   
+1. Irrespective of the measurements and technical POVs, the K812 sounds more 'fun' than the HD800 IMO. They both provide different way of enjoying the music.

+ 2

 

[Kiats]

   
He actually said that he can't recommend the K812 for audio engineers and recommend the HD800 instead when an audio microscope is needed.

 
Unless we are buying cans for use as audio engineers, the point is moot. Both the HD 800 and AKG K812 are fantastic cans. Different. But great nonetheless.